The sky is the limit for Josie Badger

Monday

After a win as Miss Wheelchair Pennsylvania in 2012, Josie Badger’s time in the spotlight hasn’t diminished.

She was recently chosen for a feature interview on the website Liberal Arts at Duquesne University, worked to finish a doctorate in health care ethics at Duquesne, established a young adults board at Children’s Hospital and worked as a fellow in a leadership education program at the University of Pittsburgh.

“The past two years are almost a blur,” Badger said. “Reading that list of activity over the past two years gives me a bit of an anxiety attack. But as I always say, if you never have time for anything, you have to make it.”

A 2003 graduate of Lincoln High School, Badger is one of eight people in the world born with a rare form of the genetic disorder muscular dystrophy.

Growing up on a farm in the Wampum area, Badger had dreams of becoming a veterinarian or marine biologist, but because of her disability, those options weren’t viable.

“I didn’t consider what those careers would be look like for me or as a person with a disability,” Badger said. “God had very different plans for my life and career.”

Those plans include a future as “Dr. Badger,” after her official graduation ceremony in May. From there, she hopes to return to the very place she so wanted to leave as a child.

“It’s amazing how ironic life can be,” Badger said. “I spent the majority of my childhood fighting to stay out of Children’s Hospital, and now, I am fighting my way back in.”

In her interview with Duquesne, Badger revealed her hopes to develop systemwide transition plans for young people with complex health-care needs and to develop youth empowerment models which will prepare young adults for life after pediatrics.

While her future after graduation remains uncertain, she has high hopes.

“I discovered that access is not always about a ramp or a regulation,” Badger said. “It’s about an attitude. Anything can be made accessible if the belief is there that all individuals have the same opportunities and access.”

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